Nigeria revolution begins in Ekiti

Sir: My readers would recall that I have been calling on Nigerian youths to rise and take leadership from rulers who are milking the masses in church, mosque, and public offices, because with such leaders Nigeria can never know peace and plenty for the masses. There is indication that my prayer came to life, Monday, October 2, 2017, when “some youths in Ekiti staged what they tagged, ‘Revolution Rally,’ asking the people to reject the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2018 governorship poll.” I have been arguing that PDP and APC are identical political parties, ruled, for the most part, by agents of Christian and Islamic imperialisms.

In the rally, the youths are said to have “unanimously adopted the candidacy of one Tosin Ajibare from Ikere in Ekiti South senatorial district for the governorship poll in 2018,” and that “they advised the people to resist former governors wanting to return to office either in person or through a surrogate, saying they failed to deliver dividends of democracy to the people.” Which President has delivered “dividends of democracy” to Nigerians, particularly since 2007? And so, youths in other parts of Nigeria should emulate the Ekiti revolutionary youths; those who have not keyed-in in Ekiti should rise and join the momentum. The youths said, “Our parents sent us to schools and they are still the ones taking care of us and our children,” to the extent that “A young man of 35 years can’t feed himself and family in Ekiti,” because, “No jobs, no bursary, no scholarship,” and “we are tired of being used as thugs.” Is that true of only Ekiti, or Nigeria in general? Listen to Ajibare: “The revolution we are planning for 2018 is real, and when we win, it’s going to be a departure from the past.” That is my prayer for Nigeria in general.

What do the youths promise? Read it: “We will promote education, agriculture, healthcare system and we will fight corruption, because we know it is the greatest enemy of this country,” with emphasis that, “We are assuring you, as youths, we know where the shoe pinches and we will spare no efforts to turn Ekiti around by ensuring probity, accountability, transparency and justice.” What else does Nigeria need as a nation? Religion and politics must also be separated; tying state power to sultanate and emirate; archdiocese and diocese, etc must stop, as well as ethnic bigotry. It is stated that “A student leader in Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Valentine Ugochinyere” (from Biafraland) was among the revolutionary speakers at the occasion.

Another thing Nigeria requires is restructure. If Nigeria is not bigger than three large states in USA, why should Nigeria have thirty-six (36) states, and seven hundred and seventy-four (774) local governments, without much of the money going into costs of governance? That means, even if you tame corruption, you will still run into financial crisis, unless you prune proliferated administrative centres. If you don’t relegate religion to the private realm, where the constitution consigns it, Christian and Islamic predators will infiltrate you, confuse you and mess-up your good intentions. You must also tame demolition madness (of people’s houses and shops) that has become fashionable and pervasive, rather than focusing positive issues of infrastructure and industrial advancement. Nigeria’s youths must rise and unite all over Nigeria, and put all issues into consideration, including zonal rotation of key positions, with the north-central taking the first shot at the presidency in 2019; before southeast, and northeast.